Rock Reef, Maine 1913

George Bellows, a painter, made this picture of a Rock Reef in Maine, probably in the early 20th century. Just look at those brushstrokes, all loaded with juicy blues and greens, swirling together like the sea itself. It looks like he painted it alla prima, wet on wet, trying to capture a fleeting moment. I can almost feel the cold spray on my face! I wonder what he was thinking as he made this. Was he trying to capture the raw power of nature? Or maybe he was more interested in the way the light played on the water, bouncing off the rocks? Did he have to hold on to his easel? The rocks are like steadfast sentinels in the face of the crashing water, aren't they? Painters have always been drawn to the sea, from Courbet to Homer to, well, me! We're all trying to capture something that can’t really be captured, and maybe that's the point, to keep searching and seeing in new ways. It’s all one big, ongoing, conversation, you know?